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One last time. There is a thread to discuss the merits of the Lend Lease. This discussion needs to be moved into that thread.
By the time of Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada wood of sufficient size and quality for ship building was so critically in short supply that almost all of it was imported from Russia if I am not mistaken. If I am also not mistaken Francis I of Spain annihilated the forests of Spain making the Armada thereby ending any chance of replacement with indigenous timber.
When you think about it, using wood to build a Mosquito is a more advanced technology than building one out of metal. No one succeeded in making something comparable in metal, and Focke Wulf even with out the hinderance of having their glue supplier bombed out of existence was unlikely to succeed using wood to make their Moskito comparable to the Mosquito.
Perhaps the biggest leap taken by De Havilland was not installing defensive armament. If NAA applied the technology of the P51 to a twin engined bomber with a crew of two Im sure they could have been close to or even better than a mosquito.
I would also place my bet on NAA. Hawker certainly didn't do it with the Whirlwind. It is my understanding that the few Ta 154 flying at operational weights would be at most comparable to the Mosquito. The He 219 was a contender but I have also read that a special light weight version was required to be a real threat to the Mosquito. There are many stories of designers and half developed designs promising to match or exceed the performance an existing operational type. Most of these stories in reality are just stories and never deliver that performance under operational conditions. P-82s operational in January 1944 would certainly be hell for German night fighters.
The Whirlwind was by Westland, not a bad plane but dogged by its engines, not eveything trundling out of rolls royce was pure gold
Yep, you're right it was Westland. That's what happens when I start writing before finishing my coffee. Thanks for bringing to my attention the mistake of writing Hawker instead of Westland. Even with good engines I am not sure how much of a success the Whirlwind would have been. Perhaps Shortround6 will weigh in as he mentioned a possible engine substitution in another thread.
My Great Uncle probably owes his life to the additional speed that high finish gave the Mosquito.
The Brits thought that Canada was unable to build "complex " aircraft it was a thought that perservered through the powers to be in the UK much like Harris calling us "black troops" because we were not up to RAF standardsOne can wonder what if () the Gloster F.9/37 or Whirlwind was 'given' in some way, as a design, to the Aussies and/or Canadians, in order to mount Twin Wasps aboard.
The Whirlwind was by Westland, not a bad plane but dogged by its engines, not eveything trundling out of rolls royce was pure gold
PB, regarding this: "... The Brits thought that Canada was unable to build "complex " aircraft it was a thought that persevered through the powers to be in the UK .."
The Minister of Aircraft Production in Churchill's cabinet was Max Aiken aka Lord Beaverbrook - very much a Canadian.
MM
The Brits thought that Canada was unable to build "complex " aircraft it was a thought that perservered through the powers to be in the UK much like Harris calling us "black troops" because we were not up to RAF standards
Never mind, Readie, Hitler called us Canadians worse. He thought if you gave every Canadian a motorcycle and a bottle of whiskey they'd kill themselves.. Or maybe that was a "bunker joke" in Berlin, circa 1944.
MM
Well, Rolls was trying to peddle the Vulture
the actual record of the Peregrine is confusing. For an engine that was supposedly troublesome ( and all new engines are troublesome) and with a limited production run of just about 300 engines to support 114 twin engined fighters (just under a 50% replacement ratio which actually Normal) the planes using these engines last until the late fall of 1943 in front line service although I don't know how intensely they were used.